I Wanna Rock! Part II

The purpose of my visit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex was really to see the memorabilia of this man.

Yoko Ono worked with the museum to present a more political, more impassioned and a more human John Lennon living in the city he loved, Nu Yohk! He loved new York and he loved New Yorkers because he felt that like him, this city was always on the go, on a mission and this city’s people allowed him the space to live normally, to be himself. And so it was here that he got to live the way he wanted: as an artist, as an activist, as a family man.

John and Yoko with the Dakota behind them

This exhibit shows us never seen letters, video footage and art work of John Lennon. Here’s one of his drawings, Lady Liberty dressed as a man with her fist up in the air. Its supposed to be some symbol against racism.

Here is a draft of one of his songs, The Luck of the Irish.

SIDE BAR: A few years back The Beatles’ Apple Corps and Steve Job’s Apple Inc. settled a decades long trademark dispute. Just thought I’d share in case you were wondering about the Apple stationary used above.

Back to Lennon. Below are the list of songs John chose to include in the Double Fantasy Album – his last.

And check out his green card, which he finally got after numerous deportation orders as a result of his anti-war opinions. You can imagine the tons of mail the immigration department received asking them not to deport this rock & roll icon. Even the mayor of NYC wrote a letter! All these letters were on exhibit.

I was struck most by how he recognized his need to be more in touch with his feminine side. In one of his writings featured in the museum, he said that being in touch with this side made him feel more natural, more real. He also mentioned how his ego got in the way of appreciating Yoko Ono more. His iconic song, IMAGINE, for example, was really inspired by Yoko Ono’s book, Graprefuit. He admitted that it took him a while to give her all the credit for this song. After reading this, it struck me, here was a man who wasn’t afraid to admit his shortcomings. show his vulnerability and demonstrate his infinite capacity to love. Inspiring, don’t you think?

Imagine Mosaic in Central Park where he loved to stroll

I shall end this post with a video I grabbed from CNN. It shows Yoko Ono giving a tour of the museum. Check out the video walls filled with footage of them as a family. Here you will see that decades after that horrendous night, she still grieves.

While I was moved by this exhibit, I actually expected more memorabilia, more stories, more inspiration. But with a man like John Lennon, perhaps more will never really be enough.